By Gabi Kamran
Staff Writer
The Wise Individualized Senior Experience (WISE) is updating its program in order to provide better opportunities for internships and networking between WISE students, parents, staff, and alumni. This year, the program will be premiering a kick-off party and a new and improved task force.
WISE is one of Milken’s signature programs that allows participating seniors the opportunity to explore a field of interest through an internship in the community. The program requires students to complete a research project through a combination of hands-on work in their chosen field, collaboration with a mentor selected from the Milken faculty or staff, and ethical reflection.
This November, the WISE program will be hosting its first kick-off event and parent orientation party, “WISE Kick-Off Night.” The party will host WISE students, parents, and several Milken alums who will be speaking at the event. The party will be a good networking opportunity for WISE students and will allow them to interact with WISE alums who might have some useful advice for beginning the program and internship.
“The kick off party gives parents a sense of what their kids are going to be doing and expectations, and it creates buzz about the program,” Ms. Kate Rosenberg, coordinator of the WISE program and Social Science teacher, said. “It gets kids excited.”
Rosenberg is also in the process of developing a new task force for the WISE program. The task force will consist of Milken parents, staff, students and alums who will help develop the program’s contacts in order to provide new and improved opportunities for internships in the community.
“The new task force will help us create better placements for students in the program, and it’ll create another connection between Milken and alumni,” Rosenberg said.
Currently, Rosenberg is in the process of meeting individually with the 27 WISE students to discuss which fields each might be interested in. Once that is determined, students will contact different resources in order to secure an internship in their chosen field.
Notable internships of the past include Rosebud Bakery, Terry Berland Casting Company, and Disney Imagineers.